Rating: 
Summary: The ONLY book you'll ever need to read regarding the subject
Review: This is the unadulterated truth! I cannot keep in my seat, the truth is out!!!!! To many times the yankee myth wants to perpetuate itself upon the alter of intellectualism, but today it is stopped!!!! This book should be required reading for ALL college history students, for then they can see the truth to the matter... The South was not about race, but about culture and freedom, and it still is!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great book,
Review: I have just recently become interested in the War for southern Independance and this book has opened my eyes. As with any and all wars, there are 2 sides, not once was I presented with the southern cause...until now. With all the footnotes, and refrences, this book seems to be a complete and accurate recollection and presentation of the Southern cause. What's more, this book Does not present a stereotypical racist attitude of the south as most would think. I believe this book shold be REQUIRED for all high school students. The only problem I had with this book is with all the footnotes. I was interested in where all the info came from. This made for long reading with all the flipping back and forth.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Political Science Book
Review: Although there are many people who seem to think that the authors are racist or ignorant, the bashers must admit that this book makes you think. The Kennedys do a great job showing that the War Between the States was NOT about slavery! If you doubt that statement, read the Bell Wiley books "The Life of Johnny Reb" and "The Life of Billy Yank", which show the thoughts of the common soldier of the Union and the Confederacy (then ask yourself which were the racists). The Kennedys explain in depth the political turmoil that existed in the United States up to and immediately after the War Between the States. They also back up the lawful ways the Southern States yearned for what the Constitution promised. They even offer proof that the Apartheid that other reviewers are convinced would have resulted from the South succeeding in its quest for states rights was actually what Lincoln wanted while a Senator and President. You don't have to agree with the Kennedys but you'll be better off in arguing whichever side you choose in the matter of states rights after reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Provides much food for thought
Review: To be honest, the book is strongly biased towards the Confederate cause (as if the title didn't already establish that). This bias is as solid for the Confederacy as books like "Lies Across America" are biased towards the Union. With that being said, however, this book provides much food for thought with many facts that are put forth. Before reading this book, I couldn't imagine that any black person would side with the South during the Civil War. My history texts in school derided the idea. However, the authors' evidence as well as more that I've found in related readings show that there were indeed pro-CSA blacks. This infuriates other historians who for some reason cannot accept this. However, the facts are there. This book is a must for anyone interested in the Civil War.
Rating: 
Summary: Unreal
Review: Read the book, or as much of it as I could stomach. Joseph Goebbels would be proud. As a long time student of the Civil war this is one of the most virulent, twisted pieces of literature that I have ever had the misfortune to read. It ranks right up there with Mein Kampf as a classic example of what you can do if you make a deliberate effort to turn every "fact" into a polemic and diatribe. If anyone is interested in a well-rounded history of the events leading up to the actual war, I suggest the first four volumes of Alan Nevins work, "The Ordeal of the Union", and "The Emergence of Lincoln". To put it in a nutshell, the South desired to leave the Union because they felt that the Northern states were trampling on their "states rights", and were interfering with the extension of slavery into the southwest and Kansas territory. They engaged in blatantly illegal activities in Kansas territory to attempt to bring it into the Union as a slave state, aided by President Buchanan. The war was fought to preserve the Union. The emancipation proclamation was issued as a war measure. The arguement that the South would have been better off as an independent nation is laughable. If they had won, today they would be nothing more than a giant banana republic.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful book
Review: This book relays the Southern point of view regarding the Civil War. Since school books focus mainly on the Northern point of view this book should be read in order to have a complete and balanced look at the events that divided a nation.
Rating:
Summary: Time for the truth
Review: Finally, an excellent retort to the decades of Federalist brainwashing about the "Civil War!" The War for Southern Independence was far from continuing the abomination of slavery, but rather perserve the integrity of the states. Unfortunately, we now have the Federal beast we have now, instead of the liberty this nation was founded upon. The Kennedys have done an impeccable job of researching this controversial issue. There's nothing more I can add above the other reviewers.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Junk
Review: I bought this book expecting to read a reasoned contrarian view of the Civil War and surrounding events. What I found was a semi-literate screed about a dark plot, continueing to this day, by the infernal Yankees to steal the happy darkies from their legitimate owners etc etc ad nauseum. The authors claim to speak for the "true south". I hope and believe that the only people who think that this book speaks for them are a few unregenerate Klansmen.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book for the True Southern Patriot
Review: I would like to answer the critics of this book by saying this:
1.Racists were not just in the south after the Civil War but also in the North the whole country was unhappy with it.
2.You must not have realized at the height of the Civil War the two countries were the most powerful in the world
3.Those who are ignorant are the money grubbing yanks!
Rating:
Summary: The South was and IS right!
Review: This book truly opened my eyes and reaffirmed what I knew in my heart all along. The authors present the War for Southern Independence for what it really was - a struggle between the rise of the central state and the original intent of the US Constitution. The men of the South fought this war to stem the tide of the ever-growing federal government led by unscrupulous men like Lincoln, who desired to throw out the Constitution. All Southerners, as well as Yankees, need to read this book. You won't be taught the truth in high school. You must find the truth for yourself.
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